BAHSTON

Last week, I watched a documentary called Spirit of the Marathon. The movie chronicles the journey of six people trying to complete the Chicago Marathon.

There is a man in the movie that is obsessed with the prospect of qualifying for the Boston Marathon. He kept going on and on about qualifying for Boston. Frankly, I got sick of him talking about it.

Quick rant: So I have recently become convinced that the Mayor of Boston sold the city’s soul to the devil in exchange ten years of prosperity on February 2, 2002. Why that date? The next day the Patriots upset the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. Lets take stock of what has happened since that date.

· The Patriots, Celtics, and Red Sox have been crowned champions in their respective sports.

· Movies such as The Town, The Departed, and The Fighter have made Boston an epicenter of movie culture.

· The world’s largest social media company, Facebook.com, was launched from a Harvard dormitory.

As you can probably tell, I am a little sick of hearing about anything having to do with Boston. Well, that was until the character in Spirit of the Marathon outlined what it takes to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

Age/Group - Men - Women

18-34 - 3hrs 10min - 3hrs 40min

35-39 - 3hrs 15min - 3hrs 45min

40-44 - 3hrs 20min - 3hrs 50min

45-49 - 3hrs 30min - 4hrs 00min

50-54 - 3hrs 35min - 4hrs 05min

55-59 - 3hrs 45min - 4hrs 15min

60-64 - 4hrs 00min - 4hrs 30min

That is incredible. Lets put the 18-34 age/group time into perspective.

Yesterday, I probably had my best day of running. I completed 6.4 miles at a 7.30 min/mile pace #humblebrag (I love twitter lingo). I would have to better that pace by 15 sec/mile for the entire 26.2 miles. That is humming! Right now, I would consider it a success if I finish the marathon in under four hours, which would make me a qualifier if I was in my retirement age.

I know that I am a long, long way from entertaining the thought of trying to qualify for Boston. However, Born to Run states that an athlete reaches his peak in distance running at the age of 27. So maybe with three years of training I could qualify?

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal, nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson

Day #11: 6.33 miles – 48 min